The Kevin Sheehan Show - Return To RFK Hurdles

Episode Date: April 17, 2025

Kevin and Thom today with a menu full of excellent options. Were tears shed for Rory McIlroy in the Sheehan household on Sunday? The boys also discussed the news that the city and football team are nearing a deal to return football to DC. What hurdles remain before the deal can be finalized? The guys talked NFL Draft, Gary Clark, the Caps, Wizards, NBA, and more.  Go to zbiotics.com/SHEEHAN and use SHEEHAN at checkout for 15% off any first time orders of ZBiotics probiotics.Try hims.com/SHEEHAN for your personalized hair loss treatment options.Shop SKIMS Mens at SKIMS.com and SKIMS stores.Go To WindowNation.com. Buy 4 windows, get 4 free!If you want to bet on sports, go to mybookie.ag. Use code KEVINDC for a bonus!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it. But you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Cheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Tommy's here. I am here. The show's presenting sponsor, as always,

Window Nation, 86690 Nation, windownation.com if you need new windows. Tommy, this from Taylor. Taylor writes, ah, Tom and Kevin's yearly fight about elitism in golf, a tradition unlike any other. Thank you, Taylor. Yes, last week we argued about golf again.

It's become, I think, an annual tradition. I don't think it gets updated that much. I think you often forget how the argument went from the year before. Other than that, it's basically the same deal every year. Yes, it is. Look, I thought golf was an elite sport when I was 18. I still think it's in the lead of sport when I'm 71. There's a few things you should hang on to from your days of youth, and that's one of them.

What did you think? I mean, we're a couple of days after it now, but we did not do a show on Tuesday, although we attempted to do one, but that's a story for another day. It was my fault. I'll just leave it at that. But what did you think of the Rory Masters win, the drama of the day? I'm assuming you didn't watch it. I think you were actually at the hockey game while this was going on.

I was at the last home game for the Caps, but I was following it on social media, and all I could think of was how pathetic it was to see all these grown men squirting on social media. That's quite the verb. That's what it seemed like. It was like a bunch of young girls squealing over who was going to be prom queen.

It was really, it was, you know what? There were some people that suggested that they were in tears. Okay. All right, I'm going to talk about something here. Trust me, I'm not going to tell you that I was in tears. I was not in tears. I did find it to be emotionally moving. But somebody I was with was in tears.

My wife actually had tears. Is that because you were making her watching? Well, so, I mean, we've talked about this before. My wife really could not care less about sports in general. I mean, it's been an opposite to track situation from the day we met. Now, unfortunately for her with three boys over the years, she's had to kind of adapt a little bit. And, you know, there are a couple of things that,

she'll sit and watch with us. She has really understood the passion that we've had for the skins in Maryland basketball in particular. Right. And so she has, you know, especially when, you know, at least a few of the boys are home or even just one and she can see how important it is to us, she'll sit and watch. Sometimes with the goal of trying to be annoying a little bit too much, like weighing in on why they're not playing well during the game in which we just look at her and say,

please don't do this. But she sat with Corbyn, my middle son, who was with me watching the golf on Sunday. He's a big Rory fan. I mean, he, over the years, you know, every one of these majors, he's like, you know, I think this is going to be the one. And he's been a big Rory McElroy fan. And by the way, my wife many times over the years. you know, with golf in particular, because there's no longer watch than golf, right? Like if you're committed to watching the final round of the Masters or a major,

it's five plus hours. And that's only if you pick it up with the leaders, you know. This is why I often compare it to watching a quilting bee. Well, I don't even know what a quilting bee is. That's when a bunch of women sit around and literally knit a quilt, put a quilt together. So, you know, and she has said before, she's like, you're going to do what? You're going to sit here for how long? I'm like, it's no different than an NFL Sunday.

I mean, you know, multiple games. Anyway, so she sat and watched the last hour or so. And she understood, you know, what the, you know, Rory McElroy journey has been. And why this particular, in part because, you know, You know, my son is a big fan, and, you know, he'll be like, you know, he'll follow an early round of Rory McElroy on his phone, you know, at a tournament. But anyway, she understood what this guy was carrying around for, you know, many, many years in terms of the pressure of not, you know, not having won a major since 2014. You know, somebody on the radio show, I thought, put it really well in terms of he had. had won four majors in 2014, but it really felt like he hadn't won any. And I think that's what

had built up over a seven or eight year period. It wasn't all, you know, 11 years because the first couple of years he didn't win a major, nobody was like, you know, nobody was panicking. Like he's never going to win again. But once you got to year three, year four, and he hadn't won a major, it just started to build. So she understood sort of the backstory. And when he, he, he, he, made the final put and he went down on his knees and you could see genuine like oh my god like just the like i think you know people who have been in that position before describe it as joy but they describe it as like relief as much as anything else that this is finally over and then when he was walking off and i thought cbs did a great job of just letting it kind of breathe and not

talking over the hugging with the caddy, the hugging with Justin Rose, the hugging of his wife and daughter. But when I think when it got to the wife and daughter, my son said, Mom, are you, are you crying? And she goes, no, but she goes, I mean, she was, she was welling up. She's like, this is amazing. And I think a lot of, I think a lot of people that watch that and people who really understood the backstory of this, it was definitely an emotional sporting event, not to mention the up and down craziness of the round, Tommy. Like, this guy is James Winston on Sunday. He's throwing four touchdowns and four picks. He's keeping both teams in the game at the same time. And it was just a wild day. I mean,

it was truly one of the more dramatic final rounds of a major I've ever watched. Now, let me just say this real quickly. I've seen people describe this as like one of the greatest sports moments of my life. This is a top five, top 10 sports moment of all time. No, it's not. Stop. Okay? This was really special.

And I would put it right now as the sporting event of the year. and if we still had like a Time magazine, not Time magazine, a Sports Illustrated, you know, sportsman of the year, remember they used to do that every year, Rory McElroy would be the favorite right now for that. But it's not a, I mean, come on.

I mean, it was memorable, it was golf memorable, it was sports memorable. It's not a top 20 all-time sports moment. But it was a crazy day that ended very emotionally. I know you don't understand that, but it did for a lot of people that watched it. And I think that's why people were squirting on Twitter. I understand it.

Yeah. You know, I just think it's a bit absurd when you really break it down. You know, but that's just my take on it. Right. Yeah, but people seem to enjoy it. You know, like I said, they were just, they were, it was an emotional. moment for a nation. Yes.

It was an emotional moment for maybe many nations because he's Irish. Yes. He's not American. But, you know, I've read a lot this week just about. Rory, I used to be a massive Rory fan. I was really rooting for him, very much rooting for him. But I have, I'm not the biggest Rory fan like I used to. He definitely got a little too mouthy during the whole Livet Tour thing.

By the way, the whole Liv Tour thing's been a disaster for the players that went other than all of the money that they collected. But in terms of their golf relevance, it's disappeared, basically. But I don't know. I guess that's it for golf. You don't want to talk about golf anymore. And that's fine. Yeah. But yes.

Not particularly. Yes, we partook last week in a tradition unlike any other. our annual golf is an elitist sport. Look, are we going to make a vow not to do it next year to leave it in the... Well, I don't know. I mean, Rory comes from, you know, a very blue-collar Irish family. Jim Nance. I know that. Nance wasn't calling the Masters. Oh, Nance was. I'm sorry.

Jim, why did I say Jim Nance wasn't calling the Masters? It's because he did not call the National Championship game. He retired from the Final Four. in college basketball. Jim Nance had... You were caught up in the emotion of the moment. I get that. It was like a victory march on the 18th,

as if he had the tournament in the bag, and he starts going, you know, on all of these pre-planned discussions about the family and the fact that the father couldn't afford the driving range. He would give him one last token to get 30 balls and told him to hit him, you know, and he's going through the whole thing. The father was, you know,

a bartender and, you know, I don't think he was working in coal mines, but he had a very blue-collar Irish background, as many of the players' families actually have, but we'll leave it at that. There's nothing that moves me more than a golf poverty story. Well, you know, poverty's, I didn't say poverty. I like the way they highlight that with all their sponsors at the event, like Mercedes. and, you know,

turbo tax? Yes. All the private, all the sponsors of this work and man's event. Enough of golf. That's it. Thank you. We will shelve it for the time being, but I'm sure it'll come up again before the next major or next year's Masters.

Somebody had, I want to just take care of something real quickly, because I guess I said yesterday, oh, this was. another thing. And I can't find any of the emails. But yesterday I kind of went off on how great the Golden State Memphis game was on Tuesday night. And it was my annual reminder to myself to suggest to everybody listening to watch the NBA playoffs because the NBA playoffs are not the NBA regular season. They're completely different. And of course, last night, The day that I suggested that, we got two completely lopsided, boring games in the playing. But I had mentioned something yesterday, and somebody said that I was wrong about this.

I had said that Washington's locked in the Wizards, that would be, their Washington's NBA franchise, that they're locked into the 19 or 20 spot with the Memphis pick that they picked up in the trade at the deadline, which included Marcus Smart, et cetera. and somebody wrote me and said, you're wrong about that. If they miss the playoffs, it's a protected pick. You were correct. Sorry, I don't have your tweet by name.

I'm looking for it and I can't find it. If Memphis loses tomorrow night to Dallas and they don't make the playoffs, this is a play-in game tomorrow night for the eighth seed, then Washington does not get Memphis's pick. It's protected. It's lottery protected. or it's non-playoff protected.

Right. Well, that would be lottery. It would be top 14 protected. So whoever sent me that, I didn't know that. I was wrong about that. And for those of you who are interested, the Wizards will have hopefully, imagine Tommy real quickly, if they do get the number one pick and Cooper Flag comes to D.C., the Wizards become overnight a different franchise.

I think so. I think they do. I mean, I'm not sure how different, because we really don't know how good the coaches. And the young players that they have, they all got positive reviews this year, and they all seem to produce well. But it's very dangerous to judge talent on a losing team.

It's a dangerous thing to do. I'm not talking about the basketball team's ability to win. games next show. Oh, okay. You're talking about excitement level. Yes. And interest level from everybody in the NBA. Yes. Yes, I would say that that they

rise from the grave. How's that? Well, I mean, Cooper Flagg will become the first American-born white player to go number one overall since Kent Benson in

1976 out of Indiana. Every other white or non-black number one overall player has been foreign-born. And so, look, I personally don't think it matters as much in today's sports. You know, I don't think there's a great white hope aspect to Cooper Flagg. I really don't. This isn't Larry Bird, you know, coming into the league. but I do think, you know, he's been talked about now for a couple of years. I mean, this guy was the number one, number one overall high school player.

Everybody's had him projected as the number one pick in the 2025 draft now for two years at least. You know, the last one we had was Wembe Nama. You know, that was, and I don't put him in the Wembeenjama class, but Zion Williamson was a high school player that everybody, knew was eventually going to be the number one pick. But I do think immediately it changes the wizard's

relevancy level. Well, it depends on what the cats do in the playoffs. I mean, they easily surpass the nationals than in terms of relevance, just with Cooper flag up before he even plays a game. And

depending on what the caps do in the Stanley Cup playoffs, they could surpass the capitals. as well in interest, in excitement. And one thing I'll grant you Ted is good at, he's good at creating interest. Usually it's fake interest, but it's still interest. Well, I asked him when I had him on a couple of months ago on the podcast, I asked him, you know, how much he's penciled out what Cooper Flagg would mean to the organization. and he wouldn't answer.

He said, well, it's inappropriate to talk about that. And I said, you know, I think I said, why would it be inappropriate? You've got to be thinking about this. Have you? And he said, well, we don't even know if we're going to win the lottery. And there are other really, really good players at the top of the draft. There you go. Cooper flag is the number one pick in the draft.

Dylan Harper, if they got number two, I think he's a potential star player as well. But if they get Cooper flag, it means. something to the business of the wizards that they haven't had in years. Yes, I agree. It does. I might even go to a wizard's game if Cooper Flag is on the team. I definitely will go to a wizard's game if Cooper Flags on the team next year. Definitely. But it still will be a couple of years away minimum from them being competitive. I mean, all of the guys that played here at the end of the year, they were all 18, 19, 20, and 21 years old.

Basketball camp, I called it in my column. You're going to watch the NBA? 33 and 131 over the last two years. Oh, here we go with the record again. Oh, no, that's right. That's right. Let's ignore the record. It's actually much more relevant during the Ernie years.

they're trying to lose games now. I know that. I know that. But somebody should apologize for that. Why? Instead of gleefully coming on your show and saying, and saying,

I take exception to that when you're, when you were talking to Ted last week, and this is all my column, by the way. I haven't read it. When you were talking to Ted, of course you haven't. Even if you're in it, you still have it.

I know. I don't care. I'll read it. I'll read it. When you were talking to Ted, And you were trying to say, look, I know it's kind of a tough watch now, but you are, and you are about to say, but you know, you're doing the right thing kind of thing. I think people understand that. He interrupted you and said, I take exception to that.

And basically said, people should be happy that they're getting to watch what I called basketball camp. That's a good one, basketball camp. So that's what you're referring to. It's like the parents drop Alex Tsar and Kula Bali and George and Carrington off at camp every day. Hey, have a good day. Here's your lunch. Oh, by the way, here's a couple bucks for some ice cream. And I suggested that, you know, that while understanding they have very few options other than what they're doing to try to turn things around,

that still doesn't mean that somebody should say they're sorry for how they got this way. Well, they don't have to say they're sorry to me. They had to say they were sorry to me when they were holding on to Bradley Beale instead of trading them and ripping it down much earlier. They should have started this process much earlier. A long list. A long list of transgressions. That has put them into position.

It has put Richard fans the few that are left. They were at the bottom of the league in attendance this year. Were they at the bottom? fans, yes. The very bottom? The very bottom? The wizard's fans? Yes.

I didn't know that. Put wizard fans in a position where they have to cheer for ping pong. Somebody should apologize for that. They were next. Even if it's exactly what they have to do if they want to have any kind of relevant, that doesn't matter.

They were next to last in attendance. The Hawks were dead last. Okay. But whatever. Next to last. Yeah, whatever. Who cares? Yeah, I, wait a minute. I was looking at a different year. They were...

Pretty sure they're last. They were... No, the pelicans, grizzlies, pacer, and hornets all drew fewer fans than the Wizards. Wizards were 26th in attendance. But whatever. Look, I think they're doing the right thing. By the time they actually, if they ever see... it payoff because there's no guarantee it will. It'll be three, four, five years down the road. I don't

even know if I'll like basketball at that point. But they're doing the right thing. Of course, I'll like basketball. I think I will. They're doing the right thing. And you know what? There were some moments that I tuned in for about three minutes to just watch the young players. All right, you want to get to the stadium thing? I want to hear what you think after the report yesterday from NBC4 about you know, the closing in on the deal. We'll do that right after. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

What? I'm looking at the numbers right now. Yeah. For attendance. Yep. And the Wizards drew 663,691 fans this year. That's the bottom. That's the lowest.

I see 692-851. I'm looking at the NBA attendance report. Oh, yeah. 25. Oh, yeah. Okay. It's 24. were 25. 663, 691, and the Hawks were 657, 613. Next to last. Okay. That's what I see. Now, maybe because the

Hawks are going to play a home game tomorrow night, does that count as regular season numbers? Maybe the Wizards will end up at the bottom. I don't know if it does. No, it won't. Yeah, well, the difference is 6,000. So if the Hawks draw more than 6,000 at the game, technically, although they would have had one more game to do it. All right. Let's get to, I want to hear what you know about the stadium situation. We'll do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. Hey guys, if you're starting to notice your hair thinning when you look in the mirror, you're not alone. Life, you know, it gets busy and you can feel like there's not enough time in the day to do something about it. Here's an idea. Try hymns.

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And use my promo code, Kevin D.C. MyBooky will give you a cash bonus when you sign up for the first time. They've got everything you'll need for the Caps, Stanley Cup run. The series price will be up shortly. They are going to play Tommy, the Montreal Canadians, in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Game one set for Monday night at Capitol One Arena. They've only played Montreal, Tommy once. You and I were doing the show together back then when they got halacked in seven games in a president's trophy season. I'm looking at the Stanley Cup odds right now. The caps are the

eighth pick odds-wise to win the cup. In the east, there are three teams. ahead of them. They're plus 1,100 to win the cup. The favorites, Dallas at plus 650. They're plus 1,100 to win the overall cup. To win the conference and to make it to the Stanley Cup, I'm sorry, they're the fourth pick. Florida is plus 350, Tampa's plus 400,

Carolina's plus 400, and then the caps are plus 500. and it's really close with Toronto, they're plus 550. Interesting that pretty much all season, despite the Caps having a phenomenal regular season, finishing with the best record in the East and the second best record overall in hockey, the odds makers don't see it with them. They just don't see it. Yeah. Don't know why.

And that's beyond my pay grade, buddy. Me too. MyBooky.ag promo code Kevin, DC. All right. Let's get to the story that Mark Seagraves, and I had him on radio actually this morning from NBC4, the story that he broke regarding the city and the football team closing in on a $3 billion-plus deal

to bring Washington back into the city to play professional football. at the RFK site. Now, he shared a lot with me about the hurdles that are left, but I just want you to tell me what you know and what you're thinking right now. Okay, well, I think that people were kind of shocked when this leaked, the insiders, you know, who were trying to keep this quiet. They kept a pretty good lid on it, but Mark did a great job in uncovering it. It's not a done deal yet.

but I have no particular special knowledge other in what Mark Seagraves has already reported except to say, except to just point out perspective that there's a long way to go and I'm sure he told you about some of the hurdles they have to deal with. There's already a group that's trying to put an initiative on the ballot for the city council to pass the law

prohibiting that land to be used for a stadium. So, I mean, the insiders think that they have the votes on city council to pass this, but that's before it became a public source of debate. You know, some minds could change

once this becomes a public source of debate in the city, which I think it will now. I think it's going to happen because, well, for one thing, the owner of the wants it, you know, Josh Harrison company, they've made it known that, you know, RFK is their preferred

site. But more importantly, the commissioner has made it known at the Super Bowl talking very highly of having the team return to RFK. That's a big one right there. I would surprise me is if there is that like this process or this battle that will go on to get this through, it wouldn't surprise me if Goodell awards the 2007 draft to Washington as kind of a carrot.

Is that draft still out there that hasn't been named? Yes, it is. It has not been named yet. Now, Baltimore has put in a bid for it as well, but I could see Goodell using that as some kind of a carrot to win people over Washington hosted a draft in 2027.

That wouldn't surprise me. Yeah, because that event brings in hundreds of thousands of people. Now, a lot of them will be from the area, but a lot of them won't be. Yes. Yeah. Yes, so I think that that's also going to happen at some point. Look, I mean, we saw Ted Leonez stand on a stage in Potomac Yards, Declaren, this was they're going to be the new home, and then months later he had to crawl back.

to Washington. We saw Jack Kent Cook do the same thing with Doug Wilder more than 20 years ago at that same location. And look where they wound up. The bears have gone through multiple locations to try to find a stadium for them. Now, they've just come off a soldier, a location next to Soldier Field and are back to Arlington Heights. These things get very complicated as they're drawn out into the public. And now, thanks to this report, it's become a public thing. And it will become a public fight and a public debate. So there's this issue of this $410 million in budget cuts that have been imposed by Congress.

That, according to Mark Seagraves and also to Eric Flack from Channel 9, who came on with me last week. and he mentioned one of the reasons this hasn't happened yet, like there hasn't been any news, is this looming budget cut because they can't get to the 2026 budget, which would be the stadium included. The stadium would be included in that until the 2025 budget is resolved. Now, it sounds like they're going to get all of this resolved

with respect to these budget cuts. But Seagraves explained a couple of things. He said, you got the city council, which by the way, right now, because of the Ward 8 issue, you only have 12 members, but you still need seven votes. He said, most people in the know believe that there are seven votes for this. Even though the chairman Mendelsohn is not a big fan of this, apparently. He said the next challenge is just all of the zoning stuff.

And that's where you'll get the NIMBs and you'll get some of these organizations that essentially want to come in and make it a public vote, you know, on the zoning. zoning it just for residential, you know, not for anything else. He mentioned to me, he said, you know, first of all, these public votes never go well for the teams and the cities in which they, you know, when they want to build a stadium. When you mean a public vote, you mean put on a ballot. Yeah, put on the ballot. Anybody can vote, yeah. No, they never usually go well. And the ballot, by the way, he said would be.

People need to remember, people need to remember that. that there's 700,000 people that live in D.C. Most of them are not football fans. Right. Yeah, most of them would rather see housing or a park or, you know, a couple of really good grocery stores and whatever. You know, so he said that there's still some hurdles to clear, like resolving the $410 million budget cut, which he said, you know, he thinks it will,

passing on the city council, which he thinks the odds, it will, and then dealing with, you know, the public vote thing possibility and push back to a lot of the zoning and just the idea of $850 million. I didn't mention. Of the $3 billion, the team will fund $2.5 billion of it, the city up to $850 million of it. $500 million almost immediately in 2026, the other $350 million kind of after the stadium opens through taxes. generated from some of the development around the stadium. I'm assuming that the city will be responsible for the infrastructure, which they would have been anyway.

The cities are always responsible for the roads and the transportation system and the parking, etc. But one of the things that Mark Seagraves mentioned to me on radio today is he said, even if there was big public pushback and it made it to the ballot and it didn't pass, that the council can supersede that vote and say, we're moving forward with it anyway. I didn't know that. But I wanted to just say two things about this, because I did talk to somebody or I texted back and forth

with somebody who is in the know on all of this and was very much involved with the team with Dan and then at the beginning of Josh Harris. Because it seemed to me that $3 billion, was the number we thought of all along, but that the team funding two and a half billion of it is a lot. It is so much more expensive for the team to do a deal with the city of Washington to bring the team back to the RFK site than it would be if they just stayed in Maryland.

So number one is understand people that Josh Harris and Mitch Rails and Mark Eind and this ownership group, they are hell-bent on bringing the team back to the city. They have great memories of RFK, and they know the fans want it to. Go ahead. Okay. Before we start, you know, holding a parade for them, this is a great deal for the team, and here's why. The team gets to develop 180 acres around the stadium. And that is the city losing out on military.

billions of dollars in development rights, just handed them over to the team. But late, I talked to somebody who was involved with the city negotiations today. Their quote was, yeah, those guys are going to make a lot of money. Okay. Fair. Fair. So it's not the way that seems. They are giving away the biggest chunk of money to the team the city is.

And that's a development of that land. Well, the city's paying for the stadium and the city's paying for infrastructure. My point was, and I totally accept what you said, and I understand that, you know, the idea of that land around the stadium in the, you know, residential retail that gets developed, they're going to benefit in the long run from that. All I was saying, though, is that the actual cost to do this is much more expensive in D.C. than it is in Maryland. You're right. Yeah. That's part of the path of least resistance argument I've always pointed out. And by the way, the city is, in spending $850 million, is more than, I think, Nashville or Buffalo. Now, we're a bigger city, and the costs are more expensive. Actually, I think Buffalo is the same, but there's state funding involved in Buffalo, too.

There's no state here to help fund it. Right, exactly. You know? I forget what Nashville's is. But I think it's almost the same as Buffalo, but you have two government entities putting in money in Buffalo. By the way, the cost of that stadium keeps going up like every couple of months. Another thing to consider that these roadblocks, if they delay a 2030 opening, it's going to jump up the cost of the stadium. Well, these projects rarely, rarely come in under budget. And, you know, as Seagraves pointed out to me today, he said, you know, you don't know what the cost of the, you know, the stuff that you're going to need to build this will be, especially in the economic environment with tariffs, et cetera, that we're involved in. So, you know, here's the last thing I wanted to say about it. And that is, number one, and I think I said this yesterday, this never happens with Dan Snyder's owner.

Never. No, absolutely not. Number two is Mayor Bowser, this is her legacy, not letting the basketball and hockey team leave for Virginia and bringing the football team back to the city. This is a big deal for her, don't you think? Yeah, it is. I mean, I think it's, look, I get it, and I'm of that same frame of mind. but if you can detach yourself from it, it's kind of warped

that we judge a person's political legacy by professional... I understand that, and she's... I'm sure that her people, and she would say, my legacy's about a lot more than that, but I can't sit here and enumerate what she's done. The normal person like me is going to remember her for this. Exactly. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Now, the other thing is

that is that you mentioned and I'm not getting political here I'm just saying facts Trump is a wild card in all this nobody knows what he'll do

that's created a volatile situation remember two months ago he declared that he thought that the federal government should take over the district you know so he's

he's a wild card in this always you know and the one thing is that Josh Harris has a good relationship with him you know, he's been a donor and he actually did some advising during the first Trump administration

on certain government affairs. But there's the, I just point that out as one more possible flying the elite. I mean, I still think, I think that Josh Harris is determined to put it in the city. I think Roger Goodell is determined to have it in the city, and that's going to be hard for anyone to overcome. Maybe he'll, you know, require the team to change its name back to the old name to get it done. Hello. You know, I also...

Or just name the stadium after them. Yeah. Here's one thing the team shouldn't say about the name moving forward is that there are lots of costs involved, which there are. Okay, I understand that. But coming up with two and a half billion dollars for this stadium, I, you know, I know many people, and the vote would be very, very close on which would you prefer? The old name back stay in Landover, or the new name moves forward and you get RFK? That, actually, I don't even know if the vote would be close.

I think people would say give me the old name back and let's stay in Landover. All right. What else on this? One last thing. Yes. One last thing is, and I pointed out a long time ago, is, I mean, I think in part the team is willing to put up so much money in the city deal because they do have, I don't think if they don't give the owners the development rights to that land, they're not putting up $2.5 billion. Sure, that makes sense. That's not happening.

Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. And, yeah. Well, I think the other part of that. this is that you, if you don't care about sports and you don't understand, you know, what these stadiums and arenas can do for a city, because by the way, it's debatable. But this one, first of all, remember, the NFL comes in with, I think, $250 million for new

stadiums. So the $2.5 billion will be $250 million, you know, subsidized by the league. The other thing is, we're probably less than 10 years away from a Super Bowl being in Washington. If it opens in... If it opens in 2030, say two or three years after it opens, Super Bowl, we're less than 10 years away from a Super Bowl in D.C. I also thought about... Look, I'm not of a school of thought like a lot of pinheads are. you know, that think that, you know, these things do not offer an economic benefit. I think they do, you know.

I mean, I've had this argument with somebody's pinheads before. They say, well, you're just transferring money from one area to another. And I say, well, if you're the other area that's getting that money, that's a good thing. If they're transferring it to your district, that's a good thing. But there is an emotional and psychological factor at play here, I think, for cities. For whatever reason, part of the psyche of a city is wrapped up in its sports teams, and particularly this team in Washington. I mean, the team only played nine miles from RFK.

And I think city officials have been talking about doing this ever since they left RFK after the 1996 season. So, I mean, there's clearly a psychological hole that when the team left that people think needs to be filled. Well, look, just, you know, and it doesn't have to be a stadium. I hope it's a stadium. But just that area, the idea that the city owns the land and there can be significant development, because that's become an eyesore. and it's only a couple of blocks away from some terrific areas now.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I was also thinking about this, Tommy. You know, if the stadium were to be built and opened next year, well, then, you know, the 28 years in Landover didn't produce anything in terms of memories. However, they're going to play in Landover at Northwestern. field for another five seasons. And Jaden Daniels is the quarterback.

And by the time this new stadium opens in 2030, it is very possible, if not likely, that we're going to have a lot of great memories of big games played. Nobody will leave. Big games played at Northwest Stadium. I mean, what if there are like two NFC championship game wins on the way to Super Bowl? over the next five years. I mean, the possibility of positive memories for this stadium actually exists now.

And you've got five years to produce them. And I would bet you over the next five years, they're going to be at least two or three seasons that are going to produce some pretty exciting moments in some big postseason games in that stadium. That stadium has had over the years just three playoff games. The Detroit game after the 99 season,

the Seattle playoff game, the infamous RG3 Seattle playoff game after 2012 and the Packers game after 2015. That's it. Three playoff games. We're going to, they may have, they may have three, they'll probably have more than three playoff games at home over the next three seasons.

Let's not get a giddy here. Okay. What else? Nothing else on this? No, I have no particular special knowledge. Mark Seagraves did a great job with this. You know, he's like the godfather of local music in D.C. Really?

Yeah, like when like King's Soul and the Soul crackers and all those bands. He follows all of them, writes about them on social media, helps promote them. His father, I think, was a movie reviewer, and a music reviewer, and music reporter. I think it was, I don't want to get the paper wrong. I'm probably the star. I think it was the star for years. So I know Mark, and he's a good guy. Yeah, I mean, I had never had him on the show, and I said to him, I said,

I feel like I've been listening to you or watching you for, like, ever. He's also local. He went to Gonzaga, you know, for high school, went to Maryland for college. All right. We got other things to get to. He had seen Leverro on the dance floor, by the way. He didn't bring that up on the show, thankfully. All right.

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All right, Tommy, tell us about Shelley's. Well, Shelley's Backroom. It's Thursday, so it's Thursday special at Shelley's Backroom at 1331 F Street, Northwest, in the district. You can read their menu, their great food menu, at Shelley's Backroom.com. cigar menu and their great drink menu, all of it's available for you to see, because it's a menu of excellence. Now, this is, this is a very, this makes me want to head to Shelly's as soon as I hang up the phone. Here's the Shelly specials for this week. I can't wait to hear it. I'm starving. It's called the Cheeziest burger, not just a cheeseburger, but the cheesiest burger. A half

pound of Shelly's custom blend beef, you know, they have their specially made beef. You know, they have their especially it may be Swiss cheese and American cheese on a butter toasted roll with bacon, onion, lettuce, tomato, fries, and a kosher pickle. Sounds great. That's a meal that if you were an inmate on death row and you had to have a last meal, the cheesiest burger's it? Yes, that's what you would go with. Okay.

Okay. They also have tuna melt sandwich that doesn't do anything. Oh, I love tuna melts. Oh, my God. That actually sounds so good right now. A good tuna melt? Are you kidding me? You know where I would get a tuna melt with you all the time when we would go to what you call it? The Silver Diner? Right down the street from our 1801 Rockville Pike Studios. And whenever we would go there and get lunch, I would always order the tuna melt. diners are known for tuna melts. Right. But not like Shelly's... Yeah. Nope. Nope. So, I mean, look,

it, check it. Don't take my word for it. I've sent lots of people there. I've gotten response from people that saying you were right, and look, and look, I get all those responses mixed up with all the other things that people tell me I was right about. But sometimes they tell me I was right about Shelley's,

all the time, in fact. By now for yourself, Shelley's Backroom.com. From Dante. Dante writes, Sheen, I've never heard you as excited doing an interview as you were today interviewing the schedule guy. Tommy, yesterday, I had on the podcast, and you can go back and listen to it. I had Mike North on the show.

Mike North is the VP of Broadcast Planning for the NFL. is really one of the two or three lead guys on creating the NFL schedule. And you know, after all of these years of talking about the schedule and doing the mock schedule, I've never had one of these guys on the show, I don't think. I remember there was a time where whoever was in charge of it, I tried to get on the show, but they weren't doing media. But this guy over the last year or so has done media, couldn't have been nicer. And I did, I promise that I would go back and listen to it again to kind of hone in a little bit on some of the hints that he gave. I think the big takeaways in talking about Washington is he sees an opener in Philadelphia on the first Thursday night game of the year more likely than a trip to Brazil on the next night.

Yeah, on the next night. What about a trip to Madrid? So I'll get to that. I'll get to that in a moment. You and I both would prefer, I think, Madrid over Brazil. Yes, we would. But if you think about week one and Washington's schedule, and they have so many really good games on their schedule this year,

with Jaden Daniels, they're going to be in a prime spot in week one. Philadelphia is obviously a possibility for that. Now, the Eagles have some great home games. They have Washington, Detroit. They've got the Rams who they played in the playoffs. They have the Bears with Caleb Williams and their brand new coach. They still have Dallas, no matter what you think, Dallas is still a big draw.

So there are a lot of possibilities for that. But Washington's clearly a possibility. What I took away from that is a bit of a lean towards Washington, Philadelphia being a strong possibility for the first game of the year to get Jaden Daniels in that spot. But I would suggest this. They're going to be in a prime time game week one. Whether it's Thursday night, if it's not Brazil, then it would be Sunday night football. how about Sunday night football Washington at Arrowhead against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs? Or Washington hosting the Lions or maybe the Cowboys. The Cowboys seem to always fit into that Sunday night spot.

So I do think that one of the things when I do my mock schedule, Washington's going to be on Thursday night football, Sunday night football, or Monday night football in week one. I would bet a lot of money there in one of those spots. The other takeaway, as you relate, as you mentioned, Madrid, he was very clear that because the Madrid game is November 16th in week 11, that more likely than not a team like Washington, who does have Miami on the road and could be in that Madrid game, it's either Madrid or Thanksgiving. It's not both.

because he doesn't think that they would come back from Madrid, then maybe play a home game the following Sunday, and then four days later they're going to play the Cowboys. He thinks that would be too much with the international travel game, and it's too late. So they're either going to be at Dallas on Thanksgiving or at Miami in Madrid on November 16th. I think one of those two is probable.

And if it's Madrid, then I would bet you, Washington plays on Christmas Day as one of the triple-header games. Okay. And that could be against Mahomes. Did he, had he heard of your mock schedule? No, I don't think so, because we talked briefly

before we started to record it, and I mentioned to him that I've been doing this for years, and he didn't act like he knew, although he was... No? How could that be? Well, how would he know? Come on. This has been a local... Oh, come on. A very local bit.

Oh, that's like a legend. That goes beyond the radio borders here. He did ask me. He said, so how's that gone for you? And I said, well, getting one right is a successful mock schedule. And he said, yeah, of course it is. It's so hard. Now, I did not brag about the year, a few years ago when I got four right.

Because even I admitted, that's like a miracle. Like, I should have ended it with that particular mock draft year. But, yeah, I mean... Look, I wrote a column five years ago about how the NFL draft is now put together by Amazon Web Services. The NFL schedule, yeah. And the NFL schedule by Amazon Web Services. And I quote it, because I watched a video about it. Yep, I remember you.

And I quote Mike North all over the place in the video. and one thing he said that was interesting. They have a competitive scoring system where they put a penalty on all the things they don't want to see that is both team-wise and television-wise. So in other words, I think they look at things that they don't want to happen and put them to the side right away. Right.

And then they work on the rest of the schedule. Yeah, there are 272. games. And he said, you know, anybody can pick the 10 to 20 that are going to be highlighted. And I did say to him, I said, Washington's never been in recent years in the 10 to 20. What about this year? And he said, this year, much different. So Washington's going to get a full allotment of prime time and standalone games. There is no doubt about that. Yeah, the putting it together involves a lot of predictive technology. And, you know, Washington would have been on that list that you just described. You know, these games are meant for one o'clock, you know, and never

anything other than a one o'clock window game. And think about all the games Washington's played at one o'clock, you know, in recent years. All right. I got this from from Nick. Nick writes, Kevin, I heard you talking about how this has to be a push the chips into the middle of the table

draft to swing for the moon, even if you fall short, you fall among the stars. I think I said that the other day, or maybe it was on radio, I don't know. Yeah, I feel that way. I feel like you've got to land on players,

especially in the first round, if you end up taking a first round player that helps you win now. I'm not saying that you're not thinking about this player as a forever player, a 10-year player, a 10-year pro bowler for your franchise. But you don't want to go into it thinking there's this guy that we really like. He's coming off a serious injury, but we know that maybe not this year, but in 26, 27, this is going to look really good. I think you've got to find a guy that ends up being a big-time producer in this upcoming

season, especially when you get late into the year and into your playoff games. That's how you should be thinking. I'm not saying that you draft for need. I'm not saying you pass on best player available, but you're, you've already approached this offseason, the trade for Marshawn Latimore, the trade for Debo Samuel, the trade for Laramie Tunsell. You know, the interest level that they absolutely would have had in Miles Garrett, the interest level that they still have in Hendrickson from Cincinnati, which, by the way, if there's a deal that's going to happen with him, it's going to happen over the next few days.

It's going to happen before the draft. And Washington, I think, still has interest in him. but I just think that this draft, and I'll have much more on sort of the players that I like, I really actually have spent some time on edge players, probably too much wasted time, but I watched a bunch of highlight reels of like the top 15 guys last night as the NBA games got sideways. But I'll have a bunch of that for next week's shows. but yeah, I think the overarching theme to this offseason is we're in Jaden Daniels window number one to win a Super Bowl. This window is his rookie contract window. There will be another window down the road and maybe two or three more, but take advantage of it and draft a player that's going to not only help you in the future, but help you right away.

I can't say I disagree with that. And I think, like you said, if you're reading between the lines of the deals that they've made, the trades that they've made, they seem to be moving in that direction. Yeah, I think they are. You know, I've gotten into a running argument with Ben, who from the very beginning didn't want to believe that the Marchand-Lathamor trade was about winning now. or the Laramie Tunsell trade is, look, they're all about the future as well. But I don't think there's any chance in hell Washington would have traded for Marshawn Latimore in the middle of the season had they been four and seven or, you know, five in eight

or whatever it was at the deadline, even though it is a good move for the future as well. Hopefully, because we haven't seen it yet from him. We haven't seen it yet. Yeah. And, you know, Laramie Tunsell may have been a move, you know, make if you went six and eleven last year, seven and ten, because it's an investment in the quarterback. So I understand that one. All right. I saw that Gary Clark is going to be there. You know how they use former players for the second round of the draft to announce who the teams pick

on night two? Yeah. So it's Gary Clark that will be. That's good. Yeah. I'm happy for that. He's one of my favorite players of all time. I mean, you know, the conversation about guys like Gary Clark and even Brian Mitchell to a, Brian Mitchell to a larger degree. I think Brian's actually got a much better case for the Hall of Fame than Gary Clark. But Gary Clark, if he had played all of his years in the NFL, rather than starting in the USFL, Gary Clark's, I mean, how do you rank the all-time Washington receivers?

I think the top two are easy. Monk and Charlie Taylor, you know, I would put it in that order. Maybe you'll put Charlie Taylor first, start, Monk's second. But Gary Clark is third. Yes, I put that. I agree with you about Monk and Charlie Taylor in that order. and I would put Gary Clark third. And then you know who's fast gaining on Gary Clark?

Terry McLaren is. Okay. Terry McLaurin is fifth right now all-time receptions for the franchise. I know, but the numbers are so skewed compared to what they used to be. That's fine. You have to keep that in mind. I think Roy Jefferson is among the top ones. Well, no, Roy Jefferson is, in terms of

receptions. He wasn't here that long. He played for the Colts for a few years, right? He was here for four or five years. Actually, third on the reception list is Santana Moss. It's Monk, Taylor, Moss, Clark, and then Terry.

And then Cooney is sixth. But I think Terry is going to be here, hopefully, when they sign him to a contract extension, and he's going to play another three, four years, minimum. he's going to end up more likely than not number two on the all-time reception list behind Monk. Probably.

Yeah. But God, man, Gary Clark, what a badass competitor, you know, and just a great receiver. You know, Monk was great, and we know he's a Hall of Famer and much after the fact than he should have been. But Gary Clark was really the player that opposing defensive coordinators had the game plan for more. He was much more of the home run threat and the guy that could take the top off and could really hurt you. All right. Anything else? I got nothing else for you, boss. All right. So when you're back on Tuesday, the Caps will have already played their game one against Montreal.

Do you have a prediction for the caps in the postseason? No, I have no prediction. Don't do this. You know, I hate that. I'm going to predict. I'm going to be a game one. On Monday night, you're going to be a game one? Yes.

I'll be a game one. You know, they have not won a playoff series since winning the Cup. I know. And since Montreal... The guy who's... I mean, besides... Look, there'll be some pushback on Ovetch. but the guy who's on the hot seat is Spencer Carberry.

He is? Their fourth coach. Well, I think so. Not on the hot seat about getting fired, but on the hot seat of public outrage, if they have an early exit. And this will be their, what, their third coach? I think Ted's feeling some of the pressure right now again.

I asked him about that on radio last week. And I said, It sounds like you're feeling a little bit of the pressure to win again, because we were talking about Ovechkin and does he kind of need a second cup? I mean, they have not won a playoff series since 2018. I know. And that's with all of the other first round exits over the years. Another first round exit would be disastrous.

Now Montreal, I read today, they got to the Cup final in 2021. I know you didn't know that. and they lost, they haven't won, they haven't been back to the playoffs since being in the Cup finals in 2021. So their fan base will be really excited about playoff games, and that place is a tough place to play up in Montreal, I've heard. I wish I was going to the U.A games, too. Yeah.

Montreal is a good. Montreal is a fabulous city. Great city. Yes. Toronto is a great city. September's in Montreal trying to bring the Expos back with me. Finally, I did. I bet you've had some fun in Montreal.

You can get into some trouble in Montreal. Yes, I did. All right. I will talk to you next week. Have a good weekend. I'll be back tomorrow. Sam Monson will join me. Sam's no longer with PFF.

He's with the 33rd team. He'll join me on tomorrow's show. I think Alan May will be with me on the show and we'll get him to preview the Caps' playoff run, hopefully, a run. I love Alan May. He's the best. Back tomorrow, everybody. Yeah.